Cadmium phosphate phosphors



Patented July 19, 1949 A-l fred H; McK'eag and Peter Ranby;,N.orth

Wembley, England;- assiga orss to; Generah trio; Company, a corporation of New Kerk.

No- Drawing; Application May-"31, 1 9441,. Serial- No. 539,814. In Great BriiaimAug'-;ust6.1il43i 2 lai s 21- 9 46).

This invention relates. to; electric: discharge lamps and devices with associated luminescent materials or phosphors-excitable by: the discharge arrays: in the: devices; and particularly. to: lumie nascent materials. which: are also; phosphorescent.- v

For present purposes; such: amaterials may be considered: phosphorescent.- whenzit; is; used as the-.li1mii1escent'mat'erial in a fluorescent lamp operated on 50 cycle.A..C., the flicker is appreciably less than if a luminescent material were used which hasno appreciable phosphorescence, e. g magnesiumtungstatev This probably;- means that the period of decay betweenthe-cessationot excitation and the instant when the phospho rescent light has decreased to half of its initial valueconsiderably or substantially exceeds; 10: sec; One-aim of the invention,- is; to? provide phiosphorescent materials that are; excitable." by 2537 A. radiation or, in practioaby the low Intessure positive columnmercur r vapor discharge of an ordinary fluorescent lamp)... and yield blue phosphorescent light when so excited; but the invention is not confined. to material yielding blue phczisphorescence. The invention also relates to the manufacture of phosphorescent materials, as well as to combinations of such materials with electrical exciting means, such as fluorescent lamps and cathode ray tubes, such phosphorescent materials being also excitable by cathode rays.

We have found that a phosphorescent phosphor such as here referred to can be obtained by activating cadmium phosphate with lead, and with manganese also as an associated supplemental or cooperating activator, if desired. In the absence of the lead, the manganese produces little or no phosphorescence in cadmium phosphate; but associated with lead serving as primary act vator, manganese generally makes the phosphorescent light redder. though it is apt to decrease the intensity or the duration of the phosphorescence or both. Only minor percentages of lead or of manganese are necessary. Also, the presence of a little fluorine in the phosphor may increase the phosphorescence. Appreciable benefit can be obtained with an amount of fluorine which is not only a minor percentage of the phosphor, but substantially less than would be called for by a typical apatite formula such as 3Cd3(PO4)2-lCdF2, or even but aminor fraction of this amount.

A material phosphorescing under 2537 A. excitation may be prepared according to the invention by heating material comprising as essential elements cadmium, phosphorus and oxygen (preferalcil'y= combined; and; preferably. in. the term,

the recliner-.20 1 lead.. and-possiblyalsoman":- gapese or; fiuorme or. both.. Temperatures. of heating; oi theorder oi 'lflfl'f Csand. 10.0.0? 0..- have beenioundisuitable. and. temperatures withiuthis range; are atpresentpreierred... already intis mated it is believed that: the. material; according to the. invention. has a... matrix with. the. lattice struc ature of; some cad'Iniumv phosphate although its utility,- does. not, oi -course depend on: the..- core rectness of this view. Certain. methods. of. Dre; aring phosphorescent, material. according. to. the inverit iln will nowbe. described by. way 01 ex? ample; these, methods. inyolye. heating cadmium phosphate with. alead; compound. which may conyenien y be1Qa hosphate or nit atafpr n stance, The in redien s or rea entsemployed hould; all be, or the high st. comme ial, p ri y; or of the high purityconimonli used in. P11312311.- es. l m nescent materials, a

Erecipitated; cadmium. ph sphate... may be. pres pared; as iol1ows in 2500 ml. of hot distilled water to form solution A, and dissolve 320 g. diamm'onium-hydro gen phosphate in 1250 ml. of hot distilled water to form solution B. Add 10 ml. of solution A to solution B, and vice versa; filter each of the solutions, and mix the filtrates together. After being separated off, the resulting precipitate is washed six times with hot distilled water, dried at C., and ground.

Precipitated lead phosphate may be prepared as follows:

Dissolve 189 g. lead acetate in 500 ml. of hot distilled water to form solution C, and dissolve 44 g. diammonium-hydrogen phosphate in 250 ml. of hot distilled water to form solution D. Add 10 ml. of solution C to solution D, and vice versa; filter each of the solutions, and mix the filtrates together. After being filtered off, the resulting precipitate is washed six times with hot distilled water, dried at C., and ground.

Manganese phosphate can be prepared in a manner analogous or essentially similar to the preparation of cadmium and lead phosphates as hereinbefore described.

The following examples illustrate suitable proportions and procedure for preparing the phosphorescent luminescent material. In these examples, the proportions of lead in the prepared phosphor. are stated without regard for any loss of lead by vaporization during the heating to aqmm sulphate form the phosphor; any such loss would correspondingly reduce the percentages of lead in the phosphor.

Example 1.For a simple lead-activated cadmium phosphate phosphor, intimately mix 25 g. of cadmium phosphate with 0.16 g. lead phosphate (both preferably prepared as above), and heat the mixture for /2 hour at 800 C. in the air. When the product has cooled, grind it and heat it again at 800 C. for hour. Thisfinal product may when cool be ground, washed, and sieved. It contains a percentage by weight of lead of the order of /2 percent or less, or of the order of a fraction of a per cent, in other words. Tested under the excitation of a low pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp with a quartz envelope (mainly by 2537 A. radiation), it gives a blue phosphorescence.

Example 2.-For a similar lead-activated phosphor containing fluorine, the batch in Example 1 is modified by the inclusion of 2.5 g. of cadmium fluoride with the other ingredients when mixing them together before the first heating. Employing the same procedure and conditions as in Example 1, a final product is obtained which contains percentages by weight of lead and fluorine of the order of /2 per cent and 2 per cent or less, in other words, of the order of a fraction of a per cent and two percent, respectively. It has, again, a blue phosphorescence,

but somewhat stronger.

Example 3.--For a lead-activated phosphor similar to that of Example 1 but also containing manganese as a supplemental, cooperating acwords, of the order of a fraction of a per cent and one per cent, respectively. It has a reddish phosphorescence.

It is not necessary, however, that lead and manganese (if present) should be introduced as phosphate: e. g., lead may be introduced as nitrate, and manganese as sulphate or chloride.

Obviously, when the phosphor is to contain fluorine in addition to both activators lead and manganese it is merely necessary to add to the batch in Example 1, both the cadmium fluoride of Example 2 and the manganese phosphate of Example 3.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A luminescent and phosphorescent material consisting essentially of cadmium phosphate activated with a fraction of a per cent of lead, and approximately two per cent of fluorine as cadmium fluoride, whereby the phosphorescence is increased.

2. A phosphorescent material consisting essentially of cadmium phosphate activated with a fraction of a per cent of lead and approximately 1 per cent of manganese, excitable by 2537 A. radiation, and approximately 2 per cent of fluorine as cadmium fluoride, whereby the intensity of its phosphorescent afterglow is enhanced.

' ALFRED H. McKEAG.

PETER W. RANBY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 'Great Britain Aug. 30, 1939 

